You Have 100 Days To Beat Google

“Microsoft may have been willing to spend years developing Vista, the long-delayed upgrade of its Windows operating system, but when Bill Gates was presented with a plan for finally beating Google in Internet search technology, he gave the engineers just 100 days“

When I was invited to Redmond to get a sneak peak of the new MSN search engine a few years back as part of SearchChamps, I left a little underwhelmed. I’m not sure how much more I can say due to still-existing non-disclosure agreements, but from information already published on the web, others clearly felt the same way. I thought that was a lot of potential from Microsoft Research, and clearly Microsoft has immense capability, and resources, but they haven’t really fired in the search space, as yet.

Are Microsoft the new IBM, and Google the new Microsoft?

Or are MS waiting for Vista to provide leverage?

They’ve been a little quiet of late. A little too quiet. As the article wisely states: “Don’t underestimate Microsoft”.

If there’s one prediction I’d make this year, it would be that this is the year that the MS search beast wakes.

As Ask’s experience has shown, no single feature (or even a bundle of features) is going to make a significant dent in Google’s market share. Developing a good search engine might’ve been enough in 1998 but with Google having a huge head start and people growing used to searching with Google, Microsoft will not only have to get better in terms of search results but also change people’s perceptions.

Google has an image of having quality search results. That is not always so but it’s the perception that matters. People know that Microsoft and Yahoo are not as good so they don’t use them. Even if they were as good as Google, there would be no reason for people to switch.

Which brings me to my final point. Let’s stop the “â€œdonâ€™t underestimate Microsoftâ€ points, they are pointless.